Orthodox Jewish Culture

Nowadays questions connected with different cultures are widely discussed questions. The main topic of this paper will be orthodox Jewish culture. Jewish culture is greatly influenced on the world culture and it is unchallengeable fact that this influence took a place many years, even centuries ago. You can say that it is disputable question and you will be right from your side of course. Naturally, the Jewish people alongside passed the centuries-old way of history with the European and Asiatic people, certainly, influence of the Jewish cultural values on life of nearby people beyond controversy, but it is not enough for us to be sure that such fact had a place. In this paper I want to describe orthodox Jewish culture with more details and let’s begin our discussion and description from the next paragraph.

I have read different information about Jewish culture and for example http://jewish.org/ confirm that “the Jewish people is one of the oldest civilizations in the history of humankind, and the first society to introduce monotheism, the idea that there is one God, Creator of the world. One of the defining characteristics of Jewish history has been the development of the idea of one God, and Jews being the chosen people of God, and this is reflected in Jewish culture and Jewish identity. Jewish people have also contributed a lot to the advancement of the natural sciences and technology, as can be seen from the amount of Jewish Nobel-prize winners.” It is also mentioned here (http://jewish.org/) that “Jewish culture is very rich and diverse, and it prospers both in the Jewish State of Israel and in the Jewish Diaspora around the world, especially in the United States. Jewish people are universally recognized for their contributions to the betterment of humankind.”

It is well-known fact that now Israel considered the country of Jewish origin. Jews – people, ascending to the population of ancient Israel and Judaic reigns, are lived in many countries of the world (from 1948 there is also the Jewish State – Israel). A quantity of Jews is something about 14 million people. Traditional religion of Jews is Judaism. Historically concepts “Jew” and “Israelite” are closely intertwined and in most languages indistinguishable.

Usually Jews spoken on the languages of those countries in which they live. In Israel an official language is a Hebrew, born-again as colloquial in XIX century. In different countries there is also a row of specific languages, the largest among them is Yiddish – included in the German group of languages.

Saying about climate we can note that the climate in Israel is subtropical, although from the features of geographical position and relief there are areas with the tropical dry and moderate type of climate. Middle temperatures in January are from +6 to +18, in July – from +24 to +30 C. But if to be honest, the same temperature from a difference in humidity of air in the different districts of country is also perceived variously.

There are many interesting facts connected with Jewish dress as a component of orthodox Jewish culture. http://www.chabad.org describes “a kippah (literally: dome) is the Hebrew word for skullcap, also referred to in Yiddish as a yarmulke, or less frequently as a koppel. Jewish law requires men to cover their heads as a sign of respect and reverence for G”‘d when praying or speaking G”‘d’s name while reciting a blessing, during study, and while in a synagogue or yeshiva. This practice has its roots in biblical times, where the priests in the Temple were instructed to cover their heads.”

This paragraph of our work will be devoted to nutritional staples of orthodox Jewish diet and food preparation. In the questions of food preparation orthodox Jews adhere to the commandments, contained in Pentateuch. In the honored literature these commandments were in detail expounded and specified, as a result there was a statute-book, getting the name “kashrus”. In obedience to kashrus laws it is categorically forbidden to use blood in food, therefore the slaughter of animals is produced so that all blood escaped on possibility from them. For this purpose live-stock is hammered by the special method which is let Jews to use in food only such mammals which chew and have the divided hoofs: cows, sheep and goats. It is possible also to eat roe deer and deer, but only if they were hammered in on butchery, but not killed during hunting. Meat, purchased in a butcher shop, is necessary to bedabble and process salt, fully to delete tailings of blood from it. Only after this procedure meat is considered suitable to the use in food.

As we understand from the previous paragraph food traditions is strict and when it is talked about “Jewish tradition” ”“ people mean something different from other nation traditions and it has very simple and understandable explanation. Unlike other, Jewish tradition has the concrete source which is named Torah. Religious and unreligious Jews accede to the fact, that Torah is basis of Jewish tradition, although in everyday life not all Jews are followed it identically. It finds the expression also in the name of Jewish tradition in Jewish language Hebrew. The word Torah in translation from Hebrew means “studies, instructions”. But more frequently it understands as the “Jewish studies”, it is also used as another name tradition of the Jewish people. Other expressions are often used too.

Moreover, in obedience to Jewish tradition, Torah was granted to the Jewish people after their exit from Egypt. It happened more than 3300 years ago and it was written in Torah too. This event with Torah granted is a central event of Jewish history and it occupies the special place in Jewish tradition. The world of Jewish tradition and religious beliefs is polyhedral and many mysteries are hidden there.

Jewish family structure is simple and all family members are honored. Internet source http://www.apologeticsindex.org/ proclaims that “a Jew is any person whose mother was a Jew or any person who has gone through the formal process of conversion to Judaism.

It is important to note that being a Jew has nothing to do with what you believe or what you do. A person born to non-Jewish parents who has not undergone the formal process of conversion but who believes everything that Orthodox Jews believe and observes every law and custom of Judaism is still a non-Jew, even in the eyes of the most liberal movements of Judaism, and a person born to a Jewish mother who is an atheist and never practices the Jewish religion is still a Jew, even in the eyes of the ultra-Orthodox. In this sense, Judaism is more like a nationality than like other religions, and being Jewish is like a citizenship.”

Thus, taking into account all above mentioned I want to conclude that to the modern Jew, who justly acknowledging vanity of superficial mass culture, it is necessary to realize that purpose and sense of life which he searches through whole life are in his own legacy. The Jewish way of life, reflecting the veritable values of Judaism, is wonderful and perfect in itself, carried out, foremost, innermost spiritual sense. So, a Jew rejects the legacy often, not doing a serious attempt to understand and estimate it in anyway. Prophets marked yet, that Israel often sowed the stranger fields and tills stranger vineyards, forgetting about the own. This strange feature of Jewish people character, resulting sometimes in self-denial, sure, does not serve to interests of all humanity. I want to add that today a Jew is important to his nation preeminently as a Jew. It is very important therefore, that the more Jewish mind, energy, ability and sacrificial idealism, was directed on claim of the really Jewish moral values and to development of orthodox Jewish culture and traditions.